Starting All Over
by storyteller362
Summary: Abby joins the teen spies and her first mission is to bring her friends together once more. The first person she finds is Hoagie. Sometimes things are easier done then said. Slight 2x5 mostly friendship.


**For my anniversary fics this is story number 5 I believe? Admittedly I lost my inspiration for this about half way through when I thought of a Fanny Kuki bonding story with some sweet Wally and Kuki goodness that was practically writing itself. But I did finish this and I like how it turned out. Hopefully you enjoy it and let me know what you think.**

**Here is my brief timeline: Abby goes through a fake ****decommissioning (she's recruited a month later), Hoagie turns 13 during that month, Wally and Kuki still haven't been decommissioned yet. **

**Please review! **

Abby Lincoln squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She trusted Maurice as she felt his hands push her forward. Then waited for her next instructions. This was part of the initiation she hoped remembering the directions of how she got here. Nearly a month, almost two, had gone by since her "decommissioning" and it was making her anxious.

"Alright Abby open them," said Maurice as her brown eyes flickered open.

The room that she was in looked like a basement. She swirled and looked Maurice unsure what to make of this. She was sure of it as her gaze pierced through him. Maurice gave a noncommittal shrug and looked at someone at the front of the room.

Her gaze went to the other person. She was a pretty girl dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and a pink cable knit sweater. Around her others joined from the steps behind her. Yep, they were definitely in someone's basement. It sure smelled like one with the air feeling a bit heavier then usual.

Maurice stood on her right with his hand on her shoulder.

This was normal, she thought, this had to be normal as the room filled. At max only about twelve people to fifteen people gathered in a circle around her and Maurice. Oh my gosh, thought Abby, I'm about to join a cult. This totally screamed cultish. Then Maurice rubbed her shoulder reassuringly making her relax. It couldn't be like that if he was part of it.

Her moment was finally coming. Abigail Lincoln was forever going to help kid kind as long as she was a teenager.

"Abigail Lincoln," said the girl gesturing for her to step forward.

Eager to prove herself but still cool, she walked over to the area just in front of the girl. She was going to be cool through this entire thing.

The girl grinned warmly at her and gestured for everyone else to sit down. "Welcome, I'm our host for the evening Briana Fisher. And welcome to the kids next door teen spies unite, USA." She broke into a grin and the small crowd clapped.

"Is this it?" asked Abby looking around at everyone there had to be around 10 people at max.

"Sort of, we're just for this surrounding area including the state line. As you know the kids next door teen spies unite is very selective. You must have spy experience, close ties to a teen, and most importantly a desire to do good for kids. Luckily for you, you have all three," said Briana that smile never leaving her face. "And you come highly recommended."

She waved to Maurice and Abby felt herself grow warm. He personally vouched for her as she remained cool and calm during this interaction.

"Our rules are simple," said Briana once more grabbing her attention. "Rule one: we spy, so don't go and try to fight a villain or even try to help one of us while we are in trouble. We are trained to get out of any kind of situation. Rule two: don't assume anything and trust your gut. You're here because of your skills which means that you're just that good. Rule three: never look back. Rule four: go with the flow and blend in yet cover your tracks. And finally rule number five: keep your options open. Can you repeat that back?"

Abby found her mind reeling as she repeated it back to Briana. Sounded easy and simple enough knowing that some of this she had done while in KND training. The only thing that was different was the rule to not help one of their own or fight. She was prone to doing that time after time. That didn't matter though, this was important. Only a few people were selected to be in the teen spies unite and she was one of them. None of her teammates would be invited, it was just her.

Not that they weren't good, but the teen spies weren't exactly "get out of decommissioning free card" sort to speak. You had to be good at spying, you had to have a tie to the teen world, which honestly Hoagie, Wally, and Kuki didn't have. All of them had younger siblings and few were good at keeping secrets. She could vividly remember Wally walking off the fake moon set intending to go to moonbase. Kuki would get easily distracted on some missions and worked mainly as a distraction. Hoagie usually spent his free time on none KND stuff. They were good at their jobs, but she was the best out of all of them to be here.

"So, uh, why are we in someone's basement?" asked Abby once she regained her train of thought back to where she was.

"Ahh you ask a good question." Briana turned her head slightly that smile still on her face. "We don't operate out of a base like a treehouse. We meet at each other's houses provided there is no one that could listen. We probably won't be meeting at your house but the others we will. It's an unofficial rule that we don't leave a paper trail."

Abby nodded getting that. There was less likely of a chance that they would get caught with no evidence.

"So how do we get missions?"

"Two ways," she said pulling out a slightly bulky laptop. "We meet here and get them off our official laptop, we have a secure network. Or we just tell you in person, we're left to do our own research sometimes."

Kind of harsh but she got it. One person would infiltrate through the football team, another through cheerleaders, someone would work in the principal's office. The jobs got passed around to those that could get close enough naturally without being suspicious. At least that's what she figured if she had to guess.

"Sounds hard, but Abby like a challenge."

"I knew we made a good decision inviting you."

Everyone around them was watching silently and enjoying the small banter they had at the end. Maurice shook his head but was grinning himself. This seemed like a piece of cake.

"Now there is two things that is vital. Now if you decide that you want to go rogue, well we will catch you and we will get you decommissioned for real this time. Once your teen years are up there's the adults or you go as though nothing has happened."

"Are the adult just as selective as the teens?"

That was when Maurice spoke up from next to her, "They are but I got a good word with them and I think you will too."

"Thanks Maurice."

The next day at school Abby knew what her first mission was. Well sorta, she had to score an invite to the teen ninja's party. Cree wasn't exactly jumping over the moon recruiting her. In fact she had been rather secretive lately. Whatever, she could do this on her own. First thing was to find someone who had an invite. She was still in middle school, so she had to find a fellow eighth grader who was going or somehow get a high schooler to invite her.

This might have been harder then she thought looking around the cafeteria. Maurice had told her to slowly become friends with her old ones little by little, so it wouldn't be too suspicious. So far it didn't look too hot both Wally and Kuki weren't weren't exactly 13 yet but she knew what do once the time came. Wally would be easy to get close to, she could just be his tutor and go from there. Kuki she could be partners with in class or join theatre or the rainbow monkey club. That meant Hoagie Gilligan. She got along with Hoagie, she could find him and then become friends.

It was a two-fold plan in her mind: friends and missions. No big deal, she did it before and she could do it again.

Her eyes searched the cafeteria and saw him sitting with the newspaper staff. A blond girl on his right and Joe Balooka on his left. It was a bit of a surprise to know that they were still friends. Then again Joe had been his friend long before the kids next door.

Clutching her paper Abby slide into a spot in front of Hoagie and his two friends.

"Hi," she said. "Are you guys part of the newspaper staff?"

"Who wants to know?" asked Joe as the other two rolled their eyes. The girl got up to the line to get herself some extra food or a dessert or something.

"Ignore him," said Hoagie looking down at her paper. "Do you have something that you wrote for the paper? I can pass it along to our editor."

"As a matter of fact A… I do," said Abby nearly slipping back into third person. She had to change that 'post decommissioning.' She passed him the paper that she had wrote. It had involved writing a real article about the new librarian.

Hoagie read over it and smiled at her before turning his head. "I'll pass it along. Don't I know you from somewhere? Abby Lincoln? I think we used to be friends back in elementary school and early middle right? Or my memory is just getting fuzzy."

Abby kept her cool as she smiled fondly at him. So, he did remember her as she relaxed underneath his gaze from behind his yellowed goggles. This was still the same old Hoagie in a lot of different ways. The only difference was that he ditched his hat and his pants a little too short. He had lost some weight but still rather round. In a way he looked really cute.

"Yea I am," she said. "Seventh grade just became awkward when we turned 13. If you want, we can become friends again, especially if I write another article for the paper. Maybe you'll have to get used to seeing me around."

She sighed mentally able to keep up with the none third person stuff.

Hoagie didn't seem to notice as he talked on.

"Oh my gosh yes, when I turned 13 it was like one big blur and things just got weird, so I get it. We all kind of gravitated away for a bit there. I remember you though and Wally Beetles, he's been acting weird around me though. Kuki Sanban, I remember her. She's my partner in history class. Yea all of us getting together later would be cool. Wally's thirteenth birthday is coming up I can probably get you an invite."

Huh, so Hoagie might actually be the one to bring everyone together. He was already decommissioned and friends with operatives that were still in the KND. If they were still going to hang out with him after her decommissioning they might as well all be friends. Was she the one late to the game?

"Yea, I'd like to go to Wally's birthday, it sounds like fun."

"Anyway I hope you write more this is good writing with some minor tweaks," said Hoagie as she glared at him. What was he going to change? "It's just some structural stuff no big deal. If you want, you can swing by my place and I can show you some journalism techniques. Friday would work…" He looked down at his phone and looked annoyed. "Sorry maybe Saturday morning?"

Abby still watched him curious. "Got a hot date on Friday?" She was teasing of course but couldn't help but feel a little jealous. At least the idea of a date did as she sighed knowing that she couldn't get too attached.

"Well I'm going to his party. One of the tech guys brothers caught mono and needs to send someone to replace him. I'd figure that you'd go with me as a friend? I can show you my book and we can look at your article closer."

Abby glared at him a little stunned? "Oh I don't know I think I might have plans on Friday."

Hoagie looked a dejected down at the floor and finally smiled. "It's okay I think I have someone that I can ask. There's the co-president of the doctor time space fan club im friends with that that I can ask. She seemed at least a little interested."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Who was the vice president of the doctor time space fan club? Shaking her head, Abby had to ignore that, before something fluttered in her stomach. She just said that she wanted to be friends with him. Jealousy was out of the question, but curiosity got the better of her.

"Really? Who is the vice president?"

It had to be someone pretty geeky like Marybeth March. Abby scoffed in her mind knowing that it wouldn't really last. It wasn't a date she chanted. She just wanted to become friends with her former teammate and then focus on her mission. Two going on at once was not a good idea.

"Rachel McKenzie," he said as Abby stopped short. "Blond hair, brown eyes, about yay high." She gestured a little above his height. "Orange shirt. She's pretty cool and on the tech side of the newspaper."

Numbuh 362, he was going to ask her. Abby sighed and wondered if she could see it. Apparently, Rachel's geeky side had been exposed after her decommissioning. A big fan of Dr. Time Space knew computer stuff and had very few friends. Word was she had a friend in England who kept her up to date on filming Dr. Time Space. Apparently she and Hoagie were friends too, what else did she miss?

"Sounds like that will be fun if you go with her. What kind of party even is it?"

It was probably something to do with Doctor Time Space she thought with a sigh. Nothing could happen between them there as she scolded herself. She didn't care if anything happened to him.

"Not sure all I know is that it's at some cheerleaders house from McClintock High. Stacy, I think?"

Abby caught herself from gasping. This was the party that she had to be at via invitation. Hoagie was going to be there. No, no, no, she had to keep him safe. He was getting in the middle of her spy work and that was not a good thing. Dang it, she thought, knowing that she had to go with him now.

"Alright we go together as friends okay?"

"Okay… but I thought you already had plans."

"Well I'm thinking of my article and we'll need it done before it's published on Monday right? I can move around my schedule."

"Right."

Abby's eyes flitted over to Joe who seemed to stop paying attention. Good, she thought, and smiled at Hoagie. She really didn't want to see him get hurt during this. Or worse somehow find himself being turned into one of the teen ninja's. Or even worse she found out about her spying. Then the final sinking feeling that he would find out and think that she was using him. That was far from the truth and tried to calm herself down. If she was going to do this right then nothing like that would happen.

Still he was going to be in the middle of her mission.

Hoagie pressed something into her palm and noticed that it was his address. She flushed a little hoping he didn't notice.

"I'll meet you there and we can leave from there."

The bell rang, and she just nodded hoping that things worked out. Friday was going to be an interesting day at least. She'd spend time with Hoagie like it was old times just about. It was going to be great to have him back in her life as a friend and maybe one day something more. Chest pounding, she thought of how to be friends with Kuki but found her thoughts going back to Hoagie. Determined she headed to class and knowing that everything will turn out like it should.


End file.
